Clothesline support



Sept. 9, 1930. F. PEREBENDA CLOTHESLINE SUPPORT Filed Feb. 14, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fide/Z? y' Wereezda Sept. 9, 1930. F.. PEREBENDA 1,775,253

CLOTHESLINE SUPPORT Filed Feb. 14, i929 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented sept. 9, 1930 PATENT OFFICE FRANK PEREBENDA, OF HARRISON, NEW JERSEY CLOTHESLIN E SUPPORT Application :filed February 14, 1929. Serial No. 339,776.

The invention relates to endless clothes lines and supports for the looped ends thereof wherebythe line with clothes pins or hangers supporting the clothes to be dried may be passed around the .pulleys of the supports at either looped end of the clothes line or both of them and whereby the opposite laps or stretches of the line may be used for hanging instead of only usingl one lap, thereby increasing or doubling the capacity of the clothes line. Another object of theinvention is to provide a pulley support for each looped end of the endless clothes line having a casingcony plicatlon, and 1n which like designating chartaining the mechanism which is thereby protected from inclement weather and which includes means for supporting the stretches of the line entering the lcasing and guiding meansfor directing the line around the pulley and retaining the same from displacement, the casing having a cover for obtaining access to the interior mechanism and also provided with supporting bracketcapable of angular adjustment vertically as desired according to the position to support the device and the nature of the support.

Another object of the invention is to provide gripping devices for the opposite ends of the line adjacent the pulley at the looped .end of the line which as the pulley rotates alternately grips and releases the line as moved along in hanging or removing the clothes, the gripping action being such that, should only a portion of the line have clothes hung thereon or should certain articles be heavier than others at certain portions ofthe linewhich together with the sagging ofthe line would ordinarily cause the line to move until' an equilibrium is established, will hold the line against'movement so that the point on the line at which the clothes are being hung or removed arenot shifted away from the point at which this operation is being effected.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for joining the ends of the clothes line in alinement and which means serves as a take-up for shortening the line or as means vfor lengthening the same.

' Another object of the invention is to provide novel clothes pins or spring clips for hanging clothes on the line, which are so constructed as to permit the same to be placed at convenient points along the line and adapted to travel ywith the line without obstructing the supporting device or its pulley.

lith the above general objects in view and others that will. appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement `of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings forming a part of this apacters refer to corresponding parts throughout the several views,

Fig. `1 is a plan view partly in section of one of the clothes line supports;

Fig, 2 is a sectional elevation taken on section line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Y t' Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary detail showing a guide pulley and one ofthe gripping means for checking and releasing the Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional View of the device shown in Fig. 1 and showing the supporting brackets;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the clothes pins or gripping and releasing means; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a connector for the ends of the line.-V

Referring to the drawings in detail 7 designates a rectangular housing or casing preferably of metal having hinged covers 8 pivoted at the ends as indicated at 9to swing upwardly and recessed at the inner edges as indicated at 10 to accommodate a goosenecked supporting arm 11 having inner and outer ends, the outer ends being pivoted-as at 12 between the arms 13 of a slotted or bifurcated bracket 14 having suitable openings for attaching it to a support. The outer end of the arm 11 is provided with a flat plate portion 15 having a plurality, preferably a pair of openings 16 adapted to be engaged by a pin or bolt 17 disposed through the arms 13 so as to angularly adjust the arm 11 vertically according to the position in which it is desired to support the casing 7 and its contained mechanism which will be subsequently described and also according to the nature of the support to which the bracket 14 is attached.

The front of the casing 7 is provided with a pair of spaced openings 18 which merge into a larger single vopening 19 in the bottom of the casing, cut semi-circularly atthe back. Arranged across the casing is a supporting frame 20 which has a centralsleeve 2 1 forming asocket receiving the dependingy outer end of the arm 11 and to whichitis pinned or otherwise suitably fixed as indicated at 22. The sleeve 21 rotatably receives the upper end of a vertical pulley shaft 23 having la Vpulley 24 at its lower end near the bottom of the casing, ythe grooved peripheryof the pulley beingl preferably provided with a series of upper and lower teeth 25 to guide and ,re-f v tain the clothes line 26L therein.l The-frame 20 is formed at the front with va substantially U-shaped portion 27 comprising ya horizontal upper portion bent down to provide ak vertical front portion and a horizontalinwardly extending bottom portion in the form of an arm which serves as a support for a` bears ing including a ball-cup 28 heldin position by a screw 29. The bottom of the pulley 24 is recessed as at 30 to form a cooperating ballcupvfitted vover the cup 28 with yinterposed ball-bearings 31 in the .races thereof so ythat bifurcated to provide upper and lower bearings 33 between which grooved star wheels '34 are journaled4 on vertical hangers or pins 35 suspended from extensions 36 on opposite vsides of the vertical front portion of the p'ortion 27 of theframe ad] acentthe top thereof. The pairs of spacedarms-of the star wheels 34 operate in the path between the bearings 33 and support and guide the opposite sides of the line around the pulley 24 and retain -theline from displacement. ,Y

ishafts 40 and journaled in the frame. The Atransverse framemember 20 vis mounted on the sides of the lcasing through depending portions 4l as indicated at 42 and the lower gends of which (extend inwardly as indicated at' 43 for attachment to `the dies Of the guide 32 whereby the latter is supported` in conjunction with the hangers 35. The portions 43 of the frame 20 carry slotted guides 44 in which plungers 45 are' sildable and having engaging ends, the inner ends of the plungers Vprojecting through slots 46 in the sides of the guide 32 and shaped to provide gripping members for engagement with the oppositey sides lof the line 26 on the pulley 24. These plungers" are held in position by' springs 47 and at their inner ends are formed with shanks 48 extending through slots 49 in the top portions of theguides 44, theV lower por` tions of which are formed by the portions 43,

ners or high-points and the flat sides of rectangular cams or blocks 51 fixed to the shafts 40. In'this way, as the llineis moved along,

the pulley 24 will be turned and with it the shaft 23 and pinion 37 to rotatek the pinions 39and the shafts 40. The blocks or cams 51 are similarly positioned so thatA their corners and frame faces, respectively, will simultaneously engage the blocks yor impact .mem-y bers 50 and cause the yalternate releaseof the vgripping members 46'from'th`e line by forcing the same'inwardly against the action of the spring 47 and therelease of the same to permit the gripping of the line when the flat Y faces of the cams 51 are against theblocks 50. .This will alternately grip and release the line lso that while it maybe moved along against the action of these gripping members by pullingon the line, they will normally check or hold the line against movement and inservice act` as brakes. In ia long stretch of clothes line, if only part of the line beoccupied by the clothesor if portions should be weighted ,more than .another portion thevline Ywould tend to shift, especially' where the line sags and these checkingdevices insure that the line will stay where, put so that the point ,on the line wherethe` clothesare being hung or removedy will alwaysbe inconvenient position. Y f f Inorder to join ,the :ends of the Vlinea connector or coupling device shown on Fig. 6 is employed. This device includes a pair of .sections 52 of fU,-shaped closed sectionwith their concaved faces towards each other, one sectionrhaving spaced pivot ears 53-hingedor pivoted tothe other section as indicated -at.54. Each section has-apair of'spaced-openings 55 through fthe uppermost of which 'the ends of the flineare eXtendedand sealed in fthe con'cavities and 'finally yextended through as indicated at 56v to anchortherends.

`The'openings,' especially'the upper Openings 55 are in al-inement so as `'to bring the ends ofthe line in corresponding relation and .sey

Y :thelower openings where they maybe knotted Y a ringor band 57 is placed lover the upper v .f free ends of the sections 52'to hold them together. Y This connector may readily pass by accommodated between the teeth 35 thereof as they line is moved along. y

The clothes pins to be used are shown more particularly in Figs. 4 and 5 at 58 and have kerfs 59 of resilient material such as metal to frictionally grip the line and adapted to be moved along the same to any desired position. The upper portions of the pins may be provided with loops 60 to receive the lines or as a convenient means of stringing the clothes pins or spring clips. The pins are lformed of strips of metal having arms 6l at the lower ends forming jaws adapted to cooperate with aws 62, these aws being preferably elongated. The jaws 62 are formed at the lower ends of strips 63 which are apertured at their lower ends and hung from headed pins 64 projecting from the shanks of the pins and are held out by spring 65 positioned between the shanks and thestrips 63. The Shanks of the pins are also formed at their opposite edges with eXtensions bent at right angles in the same direction to form parallel ears 66 between which the shanks or strips 68 of the jaws 62 are adapted to move guided by opposite pairs of extensions or lugs 67 at opposite edges of the Vstrips 63. The ears 66 are provided with openings or slots 68 in which angular camming members 69 are pivoted as at 70, these camming members being substantially U- shaped to form handle portions 71 by which they may be turned to cause the portions 67 to engage the strips or shanks 63 of the movable jawswvhen thecamming members are turned upwardly from the position shown on Fig. 5 to the gripping position shown on Fig. 4, when the handle 7l will be forced against the shanks of the pins 58 limited against further movement. This action against the springs 65 will force the jaws 62 in clamping relation with the jaws 61 to clamp and hold the clothes to be hung. This isconveniently done since the clothes pins are hung from the line.

.lt is thus seen that with this device the clothes can be conveniently hung or removed from the line and with the oppositely looped ends of the endless clothes line operating around the pulley on which the line travels, the line may be continually passed around the pulleys with or without the clothes hung therefrom, thereby permitting the entire length of the line to be used for hanging purposes and not only facilitating and hanging and removing the clothes but increasing the capacity of the line. The gripping or checking device serves as a convenient adjunct so as to check the movement of the line or to permit it to be easily moved along as desired. While there is described herein a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may kbe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

What I claim as new is:

l. A clothes line support comprising a frame having a shaft therein, a pulley carried by the shaft for rotation and adapted to yhave a line trained therearound, a gear on the shaft, said support permitting continuous travel of the line on the pulley, and means operated by the gear on the shaft for alternately gripping and releasing the line during its movement around the pulley to check movement of the line at times.

2. A clothes line support comprising a frame, a pulley carried by the frame for rotation and adapted to have a line trained therearound, said support permitting continuous travel of the line on the pulley, a gear train operated by the pulley, and'means actuated by the gear train for alternately gripping and releasing the line during its movement around the pulley to hold the line against movement during the hanging and removal of the clothes, said means being actuated during the movement of the line and bringing the gripping means into action when the line is stationary.

8. A clothes line support comprising a frame, apulley carried by the frame for rotation and adapted to have a line trained therearound, said support permitting continuous travel of the line on the pulley, and means for alternately gripping and releasing the line during its movement around the pulley to hold the line against movement during the hanging and removal of the clothes, said means being actuated during the movement of the line and bringing the gripping means into action when the line is stationary, said gripping and releasing means being geared to the pulley to be actuated during the rotation thereof.

l. A clothes line support comprising a frame, a pulley carried by the frame for rotation and adapted to have a line trained therearound, said support permitting continuous travel of the line on the pulley, and means geared to the pulley for alternately gripping and releasing the line during its movement around the pulley to hold the line against movement during the hanging and removal of the clothes, said means being actuated during the movement of the line and bring the gripping means into action when the line is stationary, said last named means being normally in gripping position.

`5. A clothes line support comprising a supporting frame, a casing about the frame, a pulley in the casing to receive a line, a bracket for supporting the casing for vertical angular adjustment, said casing having front slots and a bottom opening, said pulley rotatably supported in a horizontal position in the casing, a guiding member around the pulley, and gripping and releasing means for the line geared to thepulley to be actuated by rotation of the pulley during inovement of the line and holding theline against movement when stationary. y

62A clothes.k line support comprising ay frame, a casing about the frame, a pulley supported by the frame, said pulley having means for supporting and guiding a line thereon, a bracket for supporting the frame, said Casing having front slots and a bottom opening, said pulley being rotatably supportedin a horizontal position lin the casing, a l

guiding member around the pulley, and grip- Y infr and releasinO means for the line o eratively associated with the pulley to be actuated by rotation of the pulley during movel ment of the line and holding the line against movement When stationary.

7. A clothes line support comprising means for attaching the same to a base, a frame having upper and lower portions, a shaft rotatably carried in bearings in the upper and lower portions, a pulley on the shaftv for receiving the clothesline to be supported, a

' gear'on the shaft, means carried by the frame vfor gripping the clothes line and releasing the same With a step bystep movement, said means being geared to the first mentioned gear, and springpressed means controlling the operation of the gripping and releasing means.

8. A clothes line support comprising means for attaching the same to a base, a frame having Vupper and lovver relatively parallel I' spaced portions, a housing about Vthe frame,

a shaft carried rotatably in' bearing in the Vupper and lovver portions, a pulley on the .shaft for receiving the clothes line to be sup ported, a gear on the shaft, means carried by the frame for alternately gripping and renleasing the'clothes` line as it passes around the pulley With ay step by step movement, positive means connecting said gripping means With the gear to actuate the sameas n the pulley is rotated, and spring actuated* means for controlling the operation of the gripping and releasing means.

In testimony vvhereofI aiiiX- my signature.

FRANK PEREBENDA. 

